'Cutting down': Ex-Mineapolis police chief remembers having watched George Floyd video

The former police chief of Minneapolis, Medaria Arradondo, remembered the night that changed the course of his life and career. A recent call from a community activist asked him to see a video on social media-a one that Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd's neck for over nine minutes when the black man advocated: “I can't breathe.”

“It was absolutely mutating,” Arradondo recently recalled in an interview before the fifth anniversary of Floyd's death. What he saw on video collided with early reports from his department, and he immediately realized that the encounter would have profound consequences for Minneapolis and the world.

“I served for 32 years,” said Arradondo, the city's first black chief of police. “But there is no doubt on May 25, 2020, a crucial moment for me in my career as a public service.”

Floyd's murder outside of a grocery triggered global outrage, mass protests and demands for police reform. In addition to the mayor Jacob Frey, Arradondo made the controversial decision to let the third district burn during the unrest and quoted a lack of resources to safely defend it. Today, a large part of the Lake Street region still wears visible scars and cam buildings, empty plots and wonderful shop fronts.

During the court proceedings of 2021 in Chauvin, Arradondo took the rare step to testify against one of his own officers and break the so -called “blue wall of silence”. Later he retired in 2022, but continued to consider what he could have done more.

“I would have been harder and previously pushed to reduce the toxic culture,” he said. “And I would have ignored the community voices for a long time.”

Arradondo's new book, Chief Rondo: Securing justice for the murder of George Floyd, Floyd's daughter Gianna concludes with a warm apology:
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry that your father was taken away from you.”

(With entrances from the Associated Press)